It was important to ME, as well as my wife, to have a place to come back to. But then we're pretty wedded to our home environs in Maine and that obviously won't apply to everyone's situation.

We met folks who sold their house, went cruising for a few years, then could not afford to get back in the housing market when they eventually returned home. Granted this was back when home prices did nothing but go up, but still it's something to consider.

And by all means use a property manager for 15%. It's not fair to ask your friends or relatives to get a phone call at 6 AM Sun when the pipes are frozen or the washing machine is leaking. Our agent did a lot of due diligence on the prospective renters and they all took excellent care of my house.

Just my 2c

Max